Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Acts: Enlarging Our Vision

By staying in the Potter's hands (11/22/09)

Sermon Series: Acts: Enlarging our Vision

Title: : By staying the Potter's hands  Text: Acts 28

Introduction:

ILL: A new hair salon opened up for business right across the street from the old established barber. They put up a big bold sign which read: We Give $7 Haircuts! Not to be outdone, the old Master Barber put up his own sign: We Fix $7 Haircuts! (Raymond Perkins)

ILL: In 1502, in Florence Italy there was a large block of marble given to a church in Santa Maria, the church immediately hired who they thought was a professional to sculpt this enormously huge piece of rock. The man was not a professional and soon after commencing this great task the man drilled a whole right at the bottom destroying this magnificent piece of marble, so that the church decided just to drape a huge sheet over it not knowing what else to do, since it had been damaged beyond recognition and repair.

Another man, Michaelangelo, caught word of this large stone and how it had been destroyed, so out of curiosity he went to check it out and thought “Hey, I think I can do something here.” After a time he began work and sculpted; and what was once thought to be a lost cause became one of the greatest statutes of David ever built.

There are people today who feel like that gigantic slab of marble, things have been done to them and something is broken inside. But in the capable hands of the Lord, they can be molded into all that Jesus has called them to be. (Jeffrey Poms)

Read: Jeremiah 18:1-6

·       We all have flaws. Our lives are often broken by our own sin, mistakes and regrets.

·       We all have difficult times, monumental disappointments, heartbreaking events that happen to us or to those we love.

And sometime, we feel as if we should give up...just throw away our faith. In our minds, we’re broken beyond repair and believe we’re useless to God and everyone else.

God told Jeremiah to go to the potters house and He would speak to him there. As Jeremiah stood watching the potter work he noticed something that God intended to impact him forever. The potter was shaping a vessel with his hands when it all collapsed. Jeremiah wrote that it was marred, it had flaws. But noticed what happened next.

The potter didn’t throw the ruined piece into the trash. He continued working with it and reshaped it into something he could use.

Speaking about His people, God said to Jeremiah, ‘As the clay is in the potter’s hand so are you in my hand.’

·       When you are flawed, God can remake you!

·       When you fall apart at the seams God can put you back together again!

·       When you are broken by disappointments, hurts, delays,  even physical illness, God can bring you hope, healing and a future...

When we stay in the Potter’s hands.

You have gathered together for worship this morning. That means there’s at least some part of you that wants to be formed by God or you wouldn’t be here.  I believe you want something beyond yourselves to shape you. You don’t want to follow your own way. You want to stay in the Potter’s hands. And that’s was Paul’s heart as well.

Transition: Open your Bibles to Acts 28:1 (pg. 856 in the Bibles under the chair in front of you.) For it’s there we will find we enlarge our vision of God by staying in the Potter’s hands.

I. Acts 28:1-10  And serving in the midst of hardship

Read: Acts 28:1-10

·       The ship Paul was traveling on had been smashed to smithereens by the pounding waves.

·       276 exhausted, weak, and malnourished men, struggled however they could, to make their way to shore.

·       They were wet and as it was winter...that means they were freezing, with no supplies to help them get dry or warm.

Some locals came to the beach and built fires for the men to get warm and no doubt brought towels of some kind, for them to get dry. Paul was one of these 276 cold, wet, exhausted men who made their way to the beach from the sinking ship.

But notice what Paul does...he begins to serve his fellow shipmates by gathering firewood. He put his discomfort aside in order to serve others. And while picking up the wood, he’s bit by a viper with long fangs that penetrated deep into his hand and injected it’s highly poisionous venom. The pain would have been excrutiating.

Before I look at what Paul did, let me tell you what he didn’t do:

·       He didn’t panic.

·       He didn’t fling the viper in the direction of others potentially hurting them as well.

·       He didn’t do anything ‘spiritual’ like preach on how not to get bitten by a snake, nor did he call for a prayer mtg.

·       He didn’t even complain to God

Look at what he did do:

·       He shook the snake off his hand into the fire.

·       Although we are not told, I am sure Paul left the comfort of the fire and went back to gathering wood to help warm his shipmates.

Often in our storms, we do panic, we do lash out hurting others. We often get so self-absorbed, that we stop everything and wallow in our sorrow. In other words, we leap out of the Potter’s hands and curl up in a ball in the corner of the room waiting to be thrown out with the trash...we just give up.

We can learn from Paul that it’s especially in those dark times that we need to stay in the Potter’s hands. When storms comes, and they will, it’s a sign of a maturing Christian who is able to shake it off and continue to serve God.

Please don’t misunderstand, Please don’t think

 I’m being insensitive to peoples hurts:

·       You are real people, with real feelings, and you experience real pain, hurt, disappointment, disillusionment and fear.

·       And you cry out to God for deliverance, just as your should.

Paul understood...he’d been there:

Read: 2 Corinthians 4:7-12

God is always in control...even in the storms of our lives. God is still working in our lives. And we are still called to serve Him...in the midst of the storm. And when we do...it has an impact on those around us...an impact for all eternity.

The locals on the island move from thinking Paul was a criminal getting justice by the snake bite to being a god because he was not killed by the viper’s venom. People are fickle, but this event in Paul’s life, opened the door for further service for God and for the Gospel to be shared and heard among these unbelievers.

Publius, a wealthy man on the island, took the shipwrecked men in and cared for them for three days. During this time Paul healed Publius’ father and many other locals.

For the next three months Paul, Luke and Aristarchus stayed in the Potter’s hands, and continued to serve God, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ and bring the Kingdom of God to the island natives.

Transition: The locals, in gratitude, furnished Paul’s shipmates with provisions to complete their trip. After a three month stay to weather the winter, they were once again headed for Rome.

II. Acts 28:11-15 And serving in the midst of good times     

Read: Acts 28:11-15

Considering all that has been written about the trip to this point, very little is said about this leg of the journey to Rome. Of note is that some Christians traveled over 50 miles to meet with Paul. How they knew he was coming we’re not told. But Paul was known to them, even though he had not been to Rome before. Why? Because he had written a letter to them...the Book of Romans.

Paul thanks God for them and was encouraged by them. No doubt they shared some time in prayer and Paul answered questions they might have had concerning what he had written to them.

God has sent Paul, Luke and Aristarcus just what they needed... because they stayed in the Potter’s hands.

Transition: At last, Rome. Paul would finally stand before Caesar.

III. Acts 28:16-29       And serving in the midst of opposition

Read: Acts 28:16-29

Paul, being a Roman citizen and not yet convicted of a crime, would have had some privileges... like

·       being able to work,

·       rent a home,

·       entertain guests

·       and walk about freely in the city...well, as freely as you could with a Roman soldier next to you.

So, what is the first thing we read Paul doing? He meets with the Jewish leaders in Rome. Staying in the Potter’s hands meant fulfilling his calling, to take the Gospel to the Jews first and then to the gentiles.

His purpose in meeting with the Jewish leaders in Rome was to tell them why he was there and to open the door for sharing with them Jesus, the Hope of Israel.

He speaks with them all day...all day. Not just from 10:45am to noon. Paul’s passion for the Gospel, his desire to see people come to faith in Jesus, went beyond his comfort zone.

Notice he uses the Law and the Prophets to teach the Jews about Jesus.

·       For those in the Adult Sunday School class, how’s that for the relevance of the Old Testament when it comes to Jesus?

The Jews, as usual, were initially open minded, some even believed. But others didn’t and started to walk away. But before they did, Paul quotes a portion of the Book of Isaiah that was written to the people of Israel in Isaiah’s time.

Basically what he said was,

·       even though the Jews see God at work,

·       even though the Jews hear what God is doing,

·       they will not believe.

Paul then tells them that the Good News of God’s salvation through faith in Jesus, will be taken to the Gentiles, and they will hear...and by implication, they will believe and be saved.

God will always find those who will hear the

wonderful words of life in Jesus. Aren’t you glad you heard?

Transition: Paul is about to experience the reason why so many people jump out of the Potter’s hands...impatience.

IV. Acts 28:30-31  And serving while you wait

Read: Acts 28:30-31

For two years Paul waited to see Caesar. ‘Come on God, I’m in Rome, I’ve gone through so much to get here...and what? Nothing.’ It would have been easy for Paul to give up, to jump out of the Potter’s hands and try to get things done on his own. But he was patient, trusting God’s timing. 

But that doesn’t mean he was inactive. Staying in the Potter’s hands for Paul meant continuing to serve God in whatever ways God’s provided...even in God’s delays. And Luke tells us what that looks like: The test says:

·       he ‘welcomed all who came to see him’ That’s fellowship with other Christians:

·       ‘he preached the Kingdom of God and taught about the Lord, Jesus Christ.’ That’s Evangelism and Instruction

·       Although not mentioned, Paul most definitely worshipped with the Christians in the Church in Rome. That’s worship.

Fellowship, evangelism, instruction, worship...the building blocks of the Christian faith....and a result of staying in the Potter’s hands.

Conclusion

Have you noticed that the Book of Acts ends rather abruptly? That’s because I believe there is no real end to the Book of Acts because the same story is repeated again and again in the life of the church...in your life.

Sharing with other the Good News of life in Jesus, trusting in Jesus, relying on His power, being guided by the Holy Spirit, following God’s Word, depending upon Jesus in life’s storm,  will all continue until Jesus returns. And lives will continue to be changed as Jesus works through you. as you stay in the Potter’s hands.

The book of Acts is not over! Let’s keep writing it as we go forward for the Glory of God and for the building up of His Kingdom.

The Book of Acts can be summed up by this: We enlarge our vision of God by staying in the Potter’s hands.